Foreign and Colonial News

We have news from New York to the morning of the 19th ult. The
information respecting the war movements may be briefly summarised.

General Longstreet, who does not appear to have been retreating
with any hot haste from Knoxville, turned upon the pursuing Federals
on the 14th and drove them back some distance with considerable
loss. The latest accounts were to the effect that fighting was still
going on at a point described as Blair's crossroads.

The Federals are said to have abandoned Lookout Mountain,
Missionary Ridge, and other points, from which General Grant recently
drove the Confederates.

Hardee's army is estimated at 35,000 strong, and is at Dalton, with
pickets extending to the tunnel. Wheeler is reorganising cavalry at
Dalton for an active winter campaign. Grant and Sherman have left
Chattanooga for Bridgenorth.

The famous Confederate guerrilla leader, Morgan, who recently made
his escape from a Federal prison, had, it is said, succeeded in
getting across the Tennessee, but not, it would seem, without
considerable difficulty and risk, as it is affirmed that sixteen of
his escort were captured.

There is no news of importance from the army of the
Potomac. Mosby's and White's guerrillas are very troublesome and
numerous, continually harassing the outposts. On the 13th 700 of them
made a dash at the bridge across Cedar Run, near Catlett's station,
but were driven back by the force guarding the bridge. The line of the
railroad from the front to Alexandria is hereafter to be well
protected by both cavalry and infantry. Short leaves of absence are
freely granted to officers and men. There is nothing further in relation to the removal of General Meade. It is reported that he has
demanded a court of inquiry into the conduct of the late campaign.

General Stuart, at the head of a force of Confederate cavalry, had
made a raid upon the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, near Fairfax,
and, besides capturing a number of prisoners, he destroyed about two
miles of the line of railway.

A despatch from General Butler at Fortress Monroe announces that a
portion of his force, under General Wistar, had succeeded in capturing
the Confederate garrison at Charles City crossroads on the James
River. Eight officers and over eighty Confederate soldiers were
taken. The Federal forces, to accomplish this, had marched [s]eventy-two
miles in fifty-four hours, mostly in a severe storm.

A brigade of coloured troops under General Wild occupied Elizabeth
City, North Carolina, on the 10th of of December. The inhabitants were
entirely taken by surprise, and offered no resistance. Twenty
waggon-loads of contraband goods were sent back to Portsmouth by
General Wild. It is said that Elizabeth City is to be made the base
of important operations.

The Federals were throwing a large number of shells into
Charleston, replied to by the Confederate batteries. An accidental
fire had occurred in Fort Sumter, killing ten and injuring thirty
men. A storm had so seriously injured the obstructions to the entrance
to the harbour
that it was thought the Federal fleet would be able to make its way
through them.

the Ironclads.

The official reports of the commanders of the monitors engaged in
Dupont's attack on Charleston express disappointment at their capacity
to overcome strong forts, and state that if the attack had been
prolonged the monitors would all have been disabled. One commander
says he was disappointed beyond measure at the experiment of monitors
overcoming strong forts, and considers it was a fair
trial.

Captain Drayton, of the Passive, says:--

I was struck in quick succession in the lower part of the
turret by two heavy shots, which bulged in its plates and beams, and
forcing together the rails on which the carriage of the 11-inch gun
worked, rendered it wholly useless for the remainder of the action. A
little after a very heavy rifle-shot struck the upper edge of the
turret, broke all its eleven plates, and then, glancing upwards,
struck the pilot-house with such force as to send it over, open the
plates, and squeeze out the top, exposing the inside of the
pilot-house, and rendering it extremely likely that the next shot
would take off the top entirely.

Captain Rodgers, of the Weehawken, reports:--

Two or three heavy shots struck the side armour near the same
place. They so broke the iron that it only remained in splintered
fragments, much of which could be picked off by hand, and the wood was
exposed. The deck was pierced so as to make a hole, through which
water ran into the vessel; thirty-six bolts were broken in the turret,
and a great many in the pilot-house. To the Patapsco, no damage was
done which disabled her, although injuries which she received, if
multiplied, would do so. Forty bolts in the funnel were broken. After
the third shot from the 15-inch gun of the Nantuck a port-stopper
became jammed, several shots striking very near the port and driving
in the plating. It was not used again. A number of the same plates
were started so much that another shot in their vicinity would have
knocked them off. The deck plates were cut in twelve places; one shot
cut through the iron and about two inches into the beam, starting the
plates, several bolts, and the planking, for some feet below. The
plates on the side armour of the Nahant were badly broken in several
places, and one, where struck by two shots in close proximity, partly
stripped from the wood, and the wood backing broken in, with edging of
back plates started up and rolled back in places. The deck was struck
twice damagingly, one shot near the propeller-wheel quite shattering
and tearing the plate in its passage, and starting up twenty-five
bolts, another starting plates and twenty bolts in the turret. There were marks of nine shots; fifty-six of the
bolts were broken perceptibly, the heads flying off inside the turret,
and the bolts starting almost their length outside, some of them
flying out completely, and being found at a considerable distance from
the turret, on the deck. One shot struck the upper part of the turret,
breaking through every plate. The pilot-house was much damaged and
wrecked, and four more such shots as it received would have demolished
it. One shot at the base broke every plate through, and evidently
nearly penetrated it.

Miscellaneous.

The Federal House of Representatives has passed a resolution, by 93
to 64, that the war should be prosecuted so long as the rebels are
found in arms. A motion, submitted by the Hon. Fernando Wood,
requesting the President to appoint two commissioners to negotiate
with the authorities at Richmond with the view of terminating the war
and restoring the Union upon the terms of equity, fraternity, and
equality under the Constitution, was tabled--i.e., thrown aside--by a
vote of 98 against 59. All the Democratic members except five voted
for its adoption, and the large minority in its favour has created
some sensation.

Resolutions have been introduced for a new reciprocity treaty with
Canada; also to inquire into the expediency of putting coloured
soldiers on the same footing as white men as regards pay, and of
abolishing the 300 dols. draught commutation.

A bill has been introduced in the the Senate prohibiting the sale
of gold, silver, or exchange through brokers unless the whole of the
purchase-money be paid down, under the penalty of a heavy fine and
imprisonment.

A banquet to both Houses of Congress has been given on board the
Russian fleet at Washington. The Russian Minister and the Speaker of
the House of Representatives made speeches.

The New York Herald has nominated General
Grant as candidate for the next presidency, and has put forward an
electioneering cry that he would demand from England an indemnity for
the depredations of privateers, and would expel the French from
Mexico.

An "Evening Exchange" has been opened in the heart of the
handsomest quarter of New York, to which, after a hastily-snatched
dinner, crowds of brokers and speculators eagerly hurry, there to resume the transactions of the day and to anticipate those of the
morrow.

There have been several rumours of peace proposals coming from the
South lately, but nothing of the kind has appeared as yet.

The Confederate Senate has, in conformity with the recommendation
of President Davis's message, passed a bill prohibiting the employment of
substitutes in the Confederate army.

Mr. Foote, from Tennessee, of the Confederate House of Representatives, in a speech of the 11th ult., casts the whole blame of the
loss of Vicksburg and the Confederate reverses in East Tennessee upon
President Davis for retaining Generals Pemberton and Bragg in
command.

The Richmond press denounces President Lincoln's amnesty
proclamation as an infamous document, which will but arouse the
Southern people to new zeal and new efforts.

The Federal steamer Ella Annie has recaptured the Chesapeake, with
three of her crew, in Sambro Harbour, Nova Scotia. The Chesapeake was
taken to Halifax for judicial decision. No resistance was offered by
the crew, all of whom, except three, escaped to the shore. The English
authorities in Nova Scotia had forbidden the furnishing of coals to
the Chesapeake by the people of that province; they had ordered her
detention wherever she appeared, and gave the information to the
Federals which led to her capture. It is also alleged that they have
ordered the arrest of the men who seized her while going in her as
passengers, holding them to have been guilty of piracy. Mr. Seward has
had a friendly interview with Lord Lyons on the subject.

The Federal brig Perry has been captured near Charleston. The
steamer Ceres was destroyed off Beaufort.